A Broken Heart
The Gemara (Rosh Hashanah 16:) writes, שנה כל בסופה מתעשרת בתחלתה שרשה, "Every year that (the Jewish nation) is poor at the beginning, will prosper at the end." Rashi explains, "They act like they are poor on Rosh Hashanah and daven in a pleading manner. As it states (Mishlei 18), רש ידבר תחנונים, 'A poor man speaks with supplications.'" If they do so, the following year will be a prosperous one.
The Gemara (Rosh Hashanah 26:) says that on Rosh Hashanah, we should blow a shofar that is curved because “on Rosh Hashanah, the more one bends his heart [with humility], the better." He should feel unworthy, pleading for mercy. That attitude will help him receive a favorable judgment.
One year, the Chozeh of Lublin zt'l entered late to tekiyas shofar. Everyone was waiting until he came. The Chozeh explained that he didn’t want to hear shofar before he found some good deed in himself, but he could only find faults.
Then he remembered that there was a day that he wanted to perform a particular mitzvah, so he asked his gabai to wake him early in the morning. But the gabbai overslept, and the Chozeh couldn’t do the mitzvah.
The Chozeh felt like rebuking his gabbai for his negligence, but he reconsidered, "Why did I want to wake up early? Because I wanted to do Hashem's will. Now, it is Hashem's will that I shouldn’t become angry." When the gabbai came in, the Chozeh spoke kindly to him, as usual. He didn’t show any signs of anger. It was with this merit that he came to tekiyas shofar.
This story demonstrates the Chozeh's humble, broken heart. He felt that aside from that one good deed, he had no merits. It is with such feelings of humility that we should approach the tekiyos and tefillos on Rosh Hashanah.
Before starting the tekiyos, Reb Yissachar Dov of Belz zt'l shouted, "Hashem! Only You know my broken heart," and then he began Min HaMeitzar and tekiyas shofar.
